iMessage

iMessage is Apple's built-in instant messaging (IM) service. It lives inside the Messages app on iPhone and iPad. On the iPhone it works alongside — and often replaces — carrier SMS and MMS. On the iPad provides similar functionality, allowing you to send text, picture, video, voice memo, location, contact, and other types of messages to anyone else using an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Since there's no charge for iMessage beyond data (cellular or Wi-Fi), you can send unlimited iMessages pretty much for free. Take that, carriers!

iMessage in iOS 8

Messages in iOS 8 greatly increases the functionality of both iMessage and SMS/MMS. New touch-and-hold controls have been added allowing for quick and easy video and voice messages to be sent. Messages can be heard by simply raising the iPhone to your ear. Sharing recent photos and videos is also easier than ever, with big thumbnails and one tap sending.

Group messaging has also been vastly improved. Ongoing conversations can be given a name. You can go on Do Not Disturb on a per-group basis, and you can leave them any time you like.

Location sharing, for an hour, for the rest of the day, or in perpetuity, can be done directly inside of Messages. There's also a new Details view that shows you not only the location of everyone sharing it, but all the photos and videos that have been sent as part of the conversation, all together, all in one place.

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Messages is the most popular app on the iPhone.
There are tons of features you can activate with just a tap. It's got even more, however, that you can access with long presses, swipes, and other gesture shortcuts. If you have enough time, you can figure them all out. Or you can just read all...

Sometimes I'm having a conversation on iMessage and the person — or one of the people in a group — I'm conversing with says something so funny, so profound, so touching, or so important I just want to favorite it so they'll know, and so that I'll be able to find it again in the future when I want...

Though Messages has its quirks, I've been lucky to avoid most of them — I haven't had my message history disappear, nor have random contacts popped in or vanished out of thin air. I've rarely had problems with messages not being received or erroring out.
But I'm not immune to every iMessage...

All iMessage

Your iPhone can receive not only iMessages, which are indicated by blue bubbles, but regular old SMS messages as well, which are represented by green bubbles. If you're using an iPhone 6 or iPhone 6 Plus and find yourself only able to send and receive blue bubble iMessages, you don't seem to be...

Messages is the most popular app on the iPhone.
There are tons of features you can activate with just a tap. It's got even more, however, that you can access with long presses, swipes, and other gesture shortcuts. If you have enough time, you can figure them all out. Or you can just read all...

Though Messages has its quirks, I've been lucky to avoid most of them — I haven't had my message history disappear, nor have random contacts popped in or vanished out of thin air. I've rarely had problems with messages not being received or erroring out.
But I'm not immune to every iMessage...

iMessage got some new tricks in iOS 8 and one of those is the ability to add new people to an existing iMessage group. That means instead of having to start a brand new conversation, you can just quickly add someone to the existing group chat in just a few taps!
How to add a new person to a...

Most people use their Apple ID account not only for iCloud data, but to purchase content from iTunes and the App Store. That means that anyone who gets ahold of your account or manages to change your password could have access to your personal information and credit card information. If you want...

Apple has rolled out two-step verification to the company's iMessage and FaceTime. That allows you to combine your password with a token to help protect your accounts from unauthorized access. That way, even if someone finds or figures out your password, they still won't be able to get into your...

Last week, Ally somewhat accidentally discovered that if you change an iMessage's group name on your computer, it changes the name for everyone on the thread. It not only led to some pretty hilarious griefing for our other co-workers, but got me thinking about other ridiculous tricks and trolls...

The Messages app for Mac lets you easily send iMessages and even regular text messages without ever having to pick up your iPhone. Aside from cellular messages, the Messages app can also integrate into other messaging services, including Google Hangouts. Once linked, you can easily send and...

Messages launched with the original iPhone as "SMS", because that's all it did at the time. Apple had Safari, so they didn't build an old-school WAP browser and it turned out an old-school WAP browser is what MMS used and needed. So, Apple built one and, once carriers stopped freaking out about...

Security researchers in Germany have reportedly discovered two ways to both capture and decrypt voice and SMS communications that travel over SS7, a set of protocols used by phone systems. The Washington Post
The flaws discovered by the German researchers are actually functions built into...